Robotics: Humans Need Not Apply

On Dec. 1, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said on 60 Minutes that Amazon would deliver packages by drone. The goal of the “octocopters,” Bezos said, was to deliver orders to customers in 30 minutes or less from the point at which they make an online purchase. The immediate tasks ahead include perfecting the technology and working with the Federal Aviation Administration to create appropriate rules and regulations.

Strictly speaking, robotics, drones, automated telephone calling and autonomous (driverless) cars are only tangentially related. They all work without human intervention and utilize tools such as machine-to-machine (M2M) sensors, artificial intelligence and advanced imaging.

At a higher level, the key is that they replace something that most folks probably intuitively feel wouldn’t be replaced: intelligence for a conversation, eyes and muscles for driving, a way of getting products from a distribution point to a buyer, and an exoskeleton for locomotion.

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